Superbad, Becoming Jane

Superbad - Superbad is pretty much one of the funniest movies I have ever seen in my entire life. It is definitely the funniest movie of the year. I can't remember when I laughed harder. The plot is quite simple: Three high school friends (the brilliant Michael Cera plays Evan, Jonah Hill plays Seth and Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays McLovin) are on a quest, during one of the last weekends before graduation, to get alcohol and sex. In that order. While the plot is quite simple, naturaly, nothing really works out as planned. I don't want to divulge too much and take away from the wonderfully concocted craziness of the script but let's just say that two slacker cops (SNL's Bill Hader and co-screenwriter and Knocked Up star Seth Rogen) show up to portray the best/worst cops in the history of film. Apparently Rogen and his pal Evan Goldberg wrote the script together when they were actually in high school. You can tell. These kids talk like they are in high school. These kids act like they are in high school. Nothing is watered down at all. And it's wonderful. This movie takes the raunchiness of Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin and wears the vulgarity proudly. This is bound to become a cult classic. It's the Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Dazed and Confused of the myspace generation. This movie captures the sometimes hellish existence of adolescence perfectly. Hill and Cera have amazing chemistry together. Hill is manic and crazy, rocking a Richard Pryor t-shirt and a Jew fro. He finally gets to showcase just how funny he truly is. His overexuberance plays perfectly off of Cera's pitch perfect awkward, dead pan. He's the well-meaning, respectful nerd. He is the king of the awkward pause and uncomfortable silence. They play best friends the way only two people who have actually hung out together can play best friends. Their chemistry is wonderful. Hader and Rogen are a joy to watch as two outlandish cops. They try to steal the show but the script and performances are just so tight that no one really steals anything. The entire cast works together beautifully. But, it is probably new actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse that you'll remember in twenty years. This is his first acting role EVER! He is the coolest geek since "Terry the Toad" in American Graffiti. Mintz-Plasse plays Fogell - or McLovin which is the name he choses for his fake ID. He's more than memorable as he gets into one crazy situation after another with the crazy cops. If you want to laugh from beginning to end, then you absolutely have to see Superbad. In fact, see it twice since you'll probably be laughing so hard you'll miss some of the funny parts. This movie is definitely bonafide badass.

Grade: A-

Becoming Jane - So, I've tried to write this review three times now and it won't let me so here is the shortened version: Becoming Jane is more or less Pride and Prejudice: Redux. James McAvoy is brilliant, sexy, charming, vibrant, sexy, electrifying, sexy. Maggie Smith and James Cromwell are underused. Anne Hathaway just can't carry a movie by herself. Sorry. Someone explain to me why people keep refering to her as 'pretty'? The script is mediocre. The ending is great. James McAvoy skinny dips which is worth the price of admission alone. The cinematography is solid. The editing could have been better. There is some humor, some good points but the movie is mostly boring. Oh, and if James McAvoy ever says the words "Run away with me" to me. I'm going. Don't expect a note or a letter or a goodbye. I'm going. I don't care if he's poor. Those blue eyes alone are enough to keep me satisfied. This has been your shortened review.
Grade: C-

Stardust, The Number 23

Stardust - This film isn't exactly an intellectual film. It doesn't exactly have the most substance. It's isn't exactly a great film. But, it is a whole lot of fun. It does everything a fairy tale should do. It has action, adventure, and love. So, Stardust is not spectacular but it is fun. At this point in this summer full of bad movies and even worse sequels, that is more than enough for me. The movie follows Tristan (Charlie Cox) who crosses the Wall into a magical world in order to find a fallen star and bring it back to the fickle woman he loves (Sienna Miller). Well, he does find the fallen star and it looks an awful lot like Claire Danes! If only the movie were so simple. It seems everyone wants the fallen star. Evil, evil witch Larnia (La Michelle Pfeiffer... who is always at her best when she's being bad) wants to find the star, cut out her heart and eat it so she can stay young forever. Meanwhile, two warring princes (Mark Strong and Jason Flemyng) are trying to find the prince because of a necklace she wears around her neck. Whoever can turn the diamond into a ruby gets to become king after their father (Peter O'Toole in a small but solid role) dies. There's a lot going on in this film and lots of wonderful actors like Robert DeNiro, Rupert Everet and Ricky Gervais pop up in small roles. The movie is funny and even though it's a bit on the long side, it's still captivating to watch. The plot is solid and fantastical with all the witches, unicorns and magical candles. The acting is a little hit or miss for me. Well, mostly hit. DeNiro absolutely steals the show. There is one particular scene that will forever change the way you look at DeNiro. Promise. Pfeiffer is fantastic, as always. This really is the summer of Pfeiffer. I love her when she's playing a nice person but I love her even more when she's playing a villain. She does it so very, very well. Cox is a charming, solid actor. The weakest link? Well, unfortunately for a film that relies so heavily on her, it's Claire Danes. There's this thing she does. I don't know how to explain it. It's almost like she uses her face too much to express emotion. Yet, at the same time, she's not really all that expressive. I can't explain it. It used to be an endearing thing when she was younger. It worked for her on My So-Called Life and in Romeo + Juliet and other films. But, she's not young anymore. She's growing up and she should becoming a better actress. Unfortunately, I think she hit her peak at 15 or 16. This thing she does it bothered me in Evening as well. But there she was part of an ensemble and it was more about other characters as much as it was about her. Here, in Stardust, the film relies so heavily on her character that you really can't ignore 'the thing.' The movie is flawed, it's not perfect. It's charming but it's disposable. Will I remember this movie in December? I'm not so sure. However, compared to other films that were released this summer, Stardust is one of the better films.

Grade: B

The Number 23 (DVD) - This is an okay concept mixed with a horrible script, distracting cinematography and mediocre performances. It's been a while since I've been so bored with a film. I had expectations with this film but nothing major. I wanted to see it in theaters but never got around to it. The plot makes little sense and leaves so much to be desired. I don't even want to bore you with plot. Long story short: Jim Carrey plays Walter Sparrow and his wife Agatha (Virginia Madsen) buys him a book for his birthday called The Number 23. In it, a man becomes obsessed with the number 23 and then so does Sparrow. He finds a lot of similarities with his own life. Can you see where the hell it's going? Because I could! From a mile and a half away! The premise is obvious and tedious and not convincing in the least. The story really fails to give a true fact or formula to this whole 23 nonsense. Most of it is such a huge, hugh, stretch (especially the whole 'pink' thing... something about red being a certian number and white being a certain number and when you add them up and divide by 4 (because there are four letters in pink, OF COURSE) then that's 23! Ridiculous. How about the dog. Ned. What? The name has 3 letters and he has 2 eyes so 23? Jesus Christ). 32 is the reverse of 23! What a laugh. I thought this was a drama. There's really nothing there to convince ME (and YOU) that this is genuine. There is never a moment where I (or YOU) thought, "Oh my! This is brilliant! Can this be? Yes, this is genius! The number 23 really is universal." Since it fails to do this, we really can't buy into Walter's obsession with the number 23. He comes off as a lame guy who is either insane or bored or both. As if this obsession isn't enough, he then becomes obsessed with finding the author of the book (who knows him so well *wink, nudge*) to find the answers he's searching for. Turns out the author is a killer and the killer might still be out there so Walter becomes obsessed with finding the killer before he kills more people. The movie lacks a focal point. It's about a book and a man and a man in a book. Suicide Blondes and saxophones and pink and sleazy psyhciatrists and cakes and dogs named Ned and detective magazines and women in red. Trying to be film noir, much? This movie is just plain bad. I'm not going to give this movie an F because Jim Carrey plays a disturbed man very well (somehow that doesn't surprise me). However, his character has no development. You don't care about him or get to know him or have any empathy for him. This review is sort of all over the place just like the movie. Whatever. Now I'm going to go sit down and write a film about the number 5 and how it cursed me in my life. Like... I spent 5 dollars to sit through this terrible movie that a 5 year old could have written in 5 minutes.

Grade: D-